WotC may have sent the Pinkertons to a magic leakers home. Update: WotC confirms it and has a response.

[ersatzphil]

The head of PR at WOTC must be just so pissed at this point.

I imagine the Rosewaters and Crawfords of the world are picking their jaws up off the floor at the same speed the rest of us are.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

“Tell me you’re Irish without telling me you’re Irish” for a thousand, Alex!

Guilty as charged yer honour.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I mean, how sure are you that the person who hired Pinkerton knew of this reputation they had? You can give Enworlders the benefit of the doubt, but you can't do the same for WoTC?

Given WotC's track record over the past six months, maybe this is hopelessly naive, but I like to imagine that when someone is committing a company to a five figure (or more) contract, they will Google their future business partner, as well as bring it up in a meeting of department heads just to see if anyone does a spit take.

If this were 1993 and everyone didn't have machines on their desks and in their pockets that instantly gave them access to all recorded human knowledge, maybe not doing even minimal backgrounding might be excusable, but there's no excuse for it in 2023.

 

[Cadence]

Sucks to be them, then? A marketing plan got dinged. It can still proceed as planned, probably with better production values, the ability to interview designers and artists, etc.

Iirc most of those streamers get the cards a bit in advance to make something, have the links posted by WotC in advance to let folks know where to go to see them, and those streamers get some people tuning in because they want to see what the cards are the first instant possible. I'd guess the exciting part (short-lived as it may be) for the streamers is being the only person on the planet chosen to spoil that card.

"I don't like it" isn't the same as "I have been genuinely hurt."

Are you talking about WotC who had yet another batch of product escape before it's time or the guy who was asked to hand back the product he knew he wasn't supposed to have? ;-)

 

[Homicidal_Squirrel]

Since he doesn't have the ability to cause or prevent future leaks, what is it you think they're accomplishing here? Making an example of him?

Yes. That's what typically happens. You do something you shouldn't. You get caught. You get some type of aversive consequence. Others see what happened to you, and they don't do it to avoid similar consequences.

Have you ever watched a court case where someone gets out of hand and the judge charges them with contempt? They might get a day or two in jail. I've heard it called "clamp therapy," and it is super effective for those who don't have the demeanor to be in jail. It's also pretty effective at getting everyone else in court to settle down when they see someone put in cuff and lead away.

 

[Undrave]

So out of curiosity, what would you propose that would be acceptable to both sides? On one side we have WoTC, who does not want people getting merchandise before it is available and wants to ensure that others in the future don't do what this YouTuber did. On the other side, we have a guy who may have accidentally gotten merchandise he shouldn't have, but would like to not be threatened and intimidated by a large and financially capable corporation.

What would it look like for you? What would the process be? What would you do if you were in charge at WoTC? And i'm going to pre-emptively state that saying, "I don't know," isn't a good answer. Because "I don't know" leads to this type of incident. I'm willing to bet that the guy who was in charge of getting this situation handled probably had no idea who Pinkerton was or the reputation they had. So how woud you handle it?

Knowing how to deal with a marketing crisis is also knowing how to not come out looking like the bad guy.

First: Don't panic.
Two: Contact the Youtuber to take down the video before release date. Sweeten the deal if you have to, the guy is a small timer who'd jump at the chance to be in WotC's good grace for the future. If that doesn't work, just put a copyright claim on it with Youtube. It'll tie him up a while.
Three: Ask how he got the cards. If they were stolen, then you can always accuse the Youtuber of purchasing stolen goods and apply the appropriate legal measures. Usually the product would need to be held as evidence for a legal case.
Four: Investigate your own supply chain.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yes. That's what typically happens. You do something you shouldn't. You get caught. You get some type of aversive consequence. Others see what happened to you, and they don't do it to avoid similar consequences.

Have you ever watched a court case where someone gets out of hand and the judge charges them with contempt? They might get a day or two in jail. I've heard it called "clamp therapy," and it is super effective for those who don't have the demeanor to be in jail. It's also pretty effective at getting everyone else in court to settle down when they see someone put in cuff and lead away.

Are you now arguing that this move was intentionally heavy handed, so that WotC could scare its customers?

Do you work for their marketing department?

 

[overgeeked]

Yes. That's what typically happens. You do something you shouldn't. You get caught. You get some type of aversive consequence. Others see what happened to you, and they don't do it to avoid similar consequences.

Have you ever watched a court case where someone gets out of hand and the judge charges them with contempt? They might get a day or two in jail. I've heard it called "clamp therapy," and it is super effective for those who don't have the demeanor to be in jail. It's also pretty effective at getting everyone else in court to settle down when they see someone put in cuff and lead away.

Research shows that punishment doesn't actually deter crime.

Why Punishment Doesn't Reduce Crime

Wonder why the American criminal justice system is a dismal failure?

www.psychologytoday.com

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Iirc most of those streamers get the cards a bit in advance to make something, have the links posted by WotC in advance to let folks know where to go to see them, and those streamers get some people tuning in because they want to see what the cards are the first instant possible. I'd guess the exciting part (short-lived as it may be) for the streamers is being the only person on the planet chosen to spoil that card.

Yep. That would be frustrating. Life is full of such frustrations.

Are you talking about WotC who had yet another batch of product escape before it's time or the guy who was asked to hand back the product he knew he wasn't supposed to have? ;-)

The one that spent real money -- at a time when they're being told they're not making enough of it -- to mostly just soothe their injured pride.

 

[Homicidal_Squirrel]

Given WotC's track record over the past six months,

maybe separate that from the current events. Sequence effects is a real thing. It can make effects seem more significant than they are. In this case it can make a company look worse or the viewer more biased towards one opinion or another.

maybe this is hopelessly naive,

We keep buying products from a company that would quickly change their model to automatic withdrawals from your bank account on an hourly basis without having to provide you any benefit if they could. Of course we're hopelessly naive.

but I like to imagine that when someone is committing a company to a five figure (or more) contract, they will Google their future business partner, as well as bring it up in a meeting of department heads just to see if anyone does a spit take.

Sure, but I guess that depends on who is doing this particular job. Maybe it's not something done by WoTC? Maybe they have a whole department at Hasbro that does this? Maybe that person is overworked and is just getting things done. I mean, can you really imagine that they wouldn't overwork their employees if they are as evil as everyone thinks they are?

If this were 1993 and everyone didn't have machines on their desks and in their pockets that instantly gave them access to all recorded human knowledge, maybe not doing even minimal backgrounding might be excusable, but there's no excuse for it in 2023.

Sure, but that person may need to have some prompt to get them to do so. Unless you've heard of Pinkerton, you probably wouldn't have a need to do further investigation. Who knows, maybe they heard good things about them and thought it would work out. People aren't as brilliant as we'd like to think.